This invention relates to electrochemical oxidation. More particularly, this invention relates to the selective electrochemical oxidation of aryl-compounds and their derivatives to quinoid compounds.
Known methods for the electrochemical oxidation of organic compounds include dissolving or suspending the organic compounds to be oxidized in an aqueous electrolyte solution and passing this mixture through an electrochemical cell. Such methods have the inherent disadvantage that the organic compounds may be at least partially oxidized to an oxidation level beyond that of the desired product due primarily to the cell design. The product selectivity and current efficiency of such electrochemical methods may be lowered and undesired byproducts can be formed.